The football World Cup will be taking place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July of this year; the perfect opportunity to put into action an innovative educational project, supported by "Odyssée Jeunes " (Youth Odyssey).

This highlight of the sporting calendar will be an opportunity for 21 high-school students to fly to South Africa with the support of "Odyssée Jeunes", a programme developed by the BNP Paribas Foundation to fund school trips organised in France's Seine-Saint-Denis region.

The collaboration between BNP Paribas Foundation, Seine-Saint-Denis's General Council and Sport'A Vie - Association de l'education par le sport (which encourages education through sporting activities), will be a great sporting and cultural adventure for 21 pupils aged between 11 and 14 and who take part in their high-school football programme. Their trip will take place during the World Cup and the pupils will have to report on the matches they see, a way for our young reporters to organise their tour of the host country independently.

At Gustave Courbet High School in Pierrefitte, this social-educational project is part of ongoing work, as the group has been studying audiovisual, multimedia and IT subjects since the beginning of the school year. With supervision from media professionals, thanks to the collaboration of numerous partners, including French national TV channel TF1, they are finding out about a concrete professional world and are right at the heart of the action.

Given the existence of this project, the school opened a television studio in mid-March to help the pupils create real reports. The themes chosen by their teachers, such as apartheid or the geography of the country, helped to increase their knowledge and awareness of Africa. The programmes they make are being broadcast from March to June and the last, in September, will recount their travels in South Africa. The programmes, which will be broadcast on BNP Paribas'citizen blog, will feature two well-known figures: one from the sporting world and the other from the media world. The project will also be picked up on by TF1 during its Téléfoot football programme and on Eurosport.

A symbol of the dynamism of the school's teaching staff, this trip will give the pupils an opportunity to learn about the world outside of their classroom and open their eyes to the possibilities for playing an active role in society. The 21 youngsters will be the main beneficiaries, but this multi-disciplinary initiative will have an impact throughout the school by motivating as many pupils as possible to strive for success, invest themselves and make an effort, increase cultural openness and acquire new skills.